IGNORANCE: THE POWER OF NON-KNOWLEDGE

“Art & Evidence” Series by Disruption Network Lab

Artists, scientists, researchers, activists and journalists present and discuss ways and strategies to explore, unveil and unmake ignorance and its political, legal, technological and social uses in everyday life.

The second event of the “Art & Evidence” series by Disruption Network Lab 2016 will investigate the political, economic, technological and social uses and dimensions of ignorance in everyday life, manifested as different forms of what has been termed “non-knowledge”. Definitions of ignorance as mere voids or gaps in the growing sea of knowledge, as well as the common use of the word for referring to a state of deliberate or willful disregard for important facts, are oversimplifying and failing to recognize the manifold reasons, forms and dynamics behind its existence or maintenance. Claim of knowledge always requires its dissociation from what it is not, or what lies outside of it’s boundaries, and a growing number of scholars has begun to study ignorance as a field of inquiry of its own right, thereby demonstrating that understanding what ignorance is, how it comes to be and how it is or can be used in the pursuit of different goals requires an engagement and analysis as differentiated and complex as that related to knowledge and its production.

Many reasons for the existence and persistence of ignorance have been identified—such as secrecy through classification, maintenance of controversies through denialists’ claims, “balanced reporting” routines in the media that misrepresenting the level of consensus within the scientific community, PR strategies specifically developed to cast doubt on scientific research that indicates health risks of products marketed by powerful companies and big business, the non-transfer of existing knowledge or even dismissal of knowledge that is regarded as too sensitive, controversial or taboo to be produced. Within jurisdiction, the principle “ignorantia juris non excusat” stipulates that the law—and therefore penalization for wrongdoing—applies also to those who are not aware of it. But what if the wrongdoing is a moral one, not penalized by law? What strategies and experimental approaches can help us to create more awareness of the limits of knowledge, of their implications and of our moral and ethical, if not legal, responsibilities related to not knowing?

The areas of research and topics presented will range from phenomena in scientific practice and research to the current political scenario that we are witnessing; the study and closer look at strategies behind the deliberate production and spreading of ignorance for political agendas, such as the creation and dissemination of conspiracy theories or manipulative use of language, has gained more importance than ever if we want to understand the reasons for the growing success of populist campaigns. During the two days of keynote lectures, panel discussions and a film screening, scientists, artists, researchers and journalists will discuss and present the growing understanding of social and technical constructions of ignorance, and how ignorance defines what can be known by specific groups with different access to power and social status.